What has gone wrong at the port?

The Act, which was proclaimed on June 14, 1962, provides for a co-ordinated and integrated system of harbour facilities and port services.” The issues of the authority and its ferry service have become more pronounced as the lease term of the inter-island ferry Super Fast Galicia comes to an end on April 21. The Galicia was initially leased for a six-month period but with a number of extensions the ferry worked the inter-island route for over three years. This lack of planning is one of the issues identified as what is wrong with the port.

The 19th report of the Joint Select Committee of the fifth session of the tenth Parliament appointed to inquire into and report on Government Ministries, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises that specifically looked at the administration and operations of the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, found “the authority was suffering from a lack of funds to finance its plans for the expansion of the Port of Port-of-Spain and other related facilities; the existence of various challenges regarding vessel and cargo traffic management. In particular, PATT identified shortcomings such as poor infrastructure to store cargo, excess dwelling time for cargo and unproductive work practices. The authority needs to boost its capacity to monitor and remove abandoned or derelict vessels; There was a significant disparity between the amount of revenue earned by the inter-island ferry service and the amount expended on providing the service. It appeared that the main option for increasing the service’s income was to increase fees/fares”, among others.

These problems identified in 2014-2015 suggests change with the port and its operations is slow. Dr Trevor Townsend, senior lecturer in transport engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, said while things have changed with the port, its ferry and other services, there is still work that needs to be done Three major areas should be considered for an efficient and cost-effective running of the port and its operations; the vessels and their configurations, infrastructure, demand for the services offered.

Townsend said, “What one would do from an analyst perspective is to look at all of those things and keep trimming, to see if you had the right mixture. In a more medium term you want to look at what type of vessel you had and what arrangements you would make in terms of operational costs and the configuration in terms of passengers and type of staff it would carry…” These were the things, he said, which should be looked at on an operational level with respect to the port on a day-to-day basis and year-to-year basis.

He added that it seemed as though the organisations and its attendant bodies had an issue with acquiring operating vessels in a good enough time frame, something any port should constantly be looking at. “You also have to look at the question whether or not the organisation has the required capability of adapting with arrangements in terms of how it is funded, can it acquire the necessary operating vessels in a good enough time frame. There seems to be a problem in this case of the negotiations in terms of the vessels, where approvals have to be given and how approvals take place, what options might or might not have been available.

“And these are the things that have to be looked at by the Board of management on a regular basis.” While saying he was not upto- date with the specifics of the current situation, he said, there appeared to be some level of discontinuity with, “how arrangements have to be made to provide a temporary measure before something more medium to longterm could be put in place.” He said globally TT stood, “not as good as many but better than some.” However, he believes the country was not doing some things correctly, “not just in terms of how we run our inter-island ferry but how we run our inter- island airline and how we run our intra-island transportation system.” “The fundamentals of running good transportation systems are that there must be data and an understanding of your demand and its characteristics. You must understand the cost structure of your organisation because you have to link that cost structure to your capabilities to service that demand.

You must understand the nature of the equipment you are using and the service which lies on its replacement arrangement and have those proper arrangement sin place.” “The more you can understand and confer those things the better able you are to provide the public with what they need. From what I have seen in almost all of our cases, that is not how we have been operating.” “They do what they can with what they have.

That means you would probably be doing, in most of the cases, crisis-type arrangements,” Dr Townsend said.

Former chairman of the Board of the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, Christine Sahadeo, said while there is a robust model existence it has not been fully implemented because the separate entities do not have the requisite autonomy to be held accountable, accordingly. When asked about some of the problems affecting the port and its operations, she told Newsday productivity levels and cost-efficiencies and effectiveness were some of the major issues.

“Some of the major difficulties reside in productivity levels where it ought to be and also ensuring that the payroll cost is approximately 80 percent of the port’s total operating cost and a critical review is necessary.” In her view, the port must introduce key performance indicators and ensure necessary action is taken accordingly. “People have to be held accountable and, in my humble view, the reason why…is because they are full legal entities.

“ The fact remains by Cabinet minutes of 2002, they introduced these separate legal entities (Port of Port-of-Spain Limited, Destination Trinidad and Tobago Limited, and Trinidad and Tobago Inter Island Company Limited) to improve transparency, corporate governance and accountability.

These entities are still not fully operationalised. KPIs (key performance indicators) are not in place and hence they lack proper transparency.” With the full operationalisation of these entities it should result in higher levels of transparency, corporate governance and accountability.

She said the Inter-Island Ferry service was subsidised but that it was necessary, “to ensure there is a high level of efficiency [to ensure] that the subsidy is reduced.” She said a subsidy can be offered but it should be a very efficient model thereby reducing Government subsidy.

She said if anything was needed by one body, for example, the Port of Port-of Spain, a request had to be put in and then a manager determine if it is valid, they then determine if it would be purchased now…how can you hold the CEO of PPOS or TT IT accountable and they are not in control of the entire operation?” The problem would have been curtailed, substantially if these separate legal entities were made to operate as such and be held accountable, accordingly.

Sahadeo said the service was an essential one and needed all players to get it right. “It is an essential service and it is critical we get it right because it impacts on all of TT . It is very critical that all players, board, management, workers and the union, come together to ensure we deliver a cost-effective and efficient service.

But ultimately, she felt, “I don’t think we have gotten the model right as yet.”